Why did Devaki suffer but Yashoda enjoyed Krishna’s association?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

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question why did mother Devaki have to suffer so much whereas mother Yashoda got to enjoy Krishna’s association actually it’s a somewhat oversimplification to say that Yashoda got to enjoy yes she did get to see Krishna’s childhood pastimes but then she also was separated afterwards when Krishna left Vrindavan and went to Mathura and later to Dwarka there are entire books written about how much afflicted all the Vrajavasis were in separation from Krishna so in that sense even Yashoda maya had to suffer for quite a long time separation from Krishna and after having got the association of Krishna then to lose it was quite agonizing having said that had to look at different contexts certainly Yashoda maya’s separation from Krishna which is a great suffering that is still not comparable with the suffering that Devaki had to go through where she had to be in prison and she had to see in front of her own eyes her sons being killed and not just one or two but seven sons it’s heart breaking just to lose one child is such a great pain to lose seven so there are different this answer can be given at three different levels at the highest level we see that everything is the Leela of Krishna and in that everything in relationship with Krishna is actually nectarian because everything reminds the devotee of Krishna so whether it is union with Krishna or separation from Krishna whether it is love on seeing Krishna or fear about the loss of Krishna going away or something bad happening to Krishna so it’s like remembrance of Krishna is like nectar but some of the nectar is like sweet nectar and some of it is like bitter nectar so when we are with Krishna and we have happy emotions in relationship with Krishna that’s like sweet nectar but when we have fear or terror or agony these are negative emotions but because they are directed towards Krishna they are still positive because ultimately the soul’s defining nature is to love and serve Krishna and to remember Krishna with such love and service so remembrance of Krishna connects the soul with the spiritual level of reality and therefore remembrance of Krishna is itself nectarian but if that remembrance is in agony then it is like bitter nectar so the devotees who in relationship with Krishna go through certain pains it is painful but because it is in connection with Krishna it is nectarian now specifically if we consider that this was a reasoning from the transcendental level the reasoning from the another level could be that Devaki from the most immediate circumstantial reason if you want to have you can say that it was just unfortunate that the whole arrangement was made in such a way that Devaki’s son would be the cause of the death of Kamsa and that’s why Kamsa became so antipathetic if Krishna had wanted he could have avoided everything he could have just without he could have without the Akashmani, without the prophecy he could have just quietly appeared in front of Devaki and he could have he could have if Kamsa had been atrocious he could have killed Kamsa but Krishna chose to arrange from Devakas that he his appearance was prophesied first and by this the true colors of everyone were exposed to the world if Krishna had just appeared and killed Kamsa how atrocious Kamsa was the world would not have known but the fact that he was ready to kill his own sister on her own wedding day that indicated how heinous he was to kill a woman is bad, to kill one’s own sister is even worse and to kill one’s own sister on her wedding day which is meant to be auspicious that is we could say like sin square and sin cube so by these actions Kamsa’s heinousness Kamsa’s Kamsa’s terrible cruelty comes out and then when Krishna kills it is not that Krishna just people cannot even otherwise people find fault why did Krishna kill his own maternal uncle but when we see what all he did to his own relatives and of course he had imprisoned his own father also so the more his atrociousness comes out and the more for people who are doubters or skeptics also Krishna, the rationale for Krishna’s actions become more and more clear and then at another level we say that the sufferings that devotees go through serve a transcendental purpose if the devotee is a sadhaka then the suffering suffering is for the purification in the suffering the devotee calls out to Krishna, intensely remembers Krishna and that remembrance purifies the devotee is already very advanced and exalted then that suffering which those devotees go through is for their glorification that despite so much suffering just see how faithfully this devotee served the lord so in Devaki’s case she is the Vatsalyabhav she is the mother of Krishna she is already an exalted devotee so her suffering is not for her purification her suffering is for her glorification that what mother is it that she is ready to go through the trauma of seeing so many of her sons killed at such a tender age and killed by someone who would normally be expected to protect them her own brother the maternal uncle of those kids normally the children in the family the maternal uncle is considered to be very affectionate to the children so that Devaki was ready to go through all this for the sake of having Krishna appear in her womb and through her womb to the world that shows the exalted devotion of Devaki and thus all this is for her glorification so it is there can be many reasons but it is to show how ultimately in serving Krishna there is both sweet nectar and bitter nectar to show how villainous Kamsa was and to show how exalted the character of the devotion of Devaki was that’s how we can say things transpired in a particular way